Forgive this rather dark view, it’s simply how I feel today. We, our society, our world is in transition. The Age of Impermanence is here. How long it will persist is anyone’s guess. The world seems to be trying to find its feet, its balance, its stability, but keeps slipping on the banana skins of disease, environmental upheaval, economic and political crashes. Nothing seems to promise stability or security. No government or ideology can promise security with the freedoms and rights most of us aspire to. Many give speeches of hope but it seems hope is all we have. When will that hope become a reality, a fulfilled dream…Everyday, everyone has a mission. The mission to survive one more day, one more trial, one more struggle. When will we breath a sigh of relief to at last find rest, refuge and peace of mind, at least for one more day?
Impermanence brings forgetfulness. Friendships peter out into yesterday’s dreams, thankfulness diminished by greed, what works today becomes obsolete tomorrow, often for something less useful which satisfies for a short time. People seek instant cures, instant relief, instant satiation, instant food, instant obedience as if the human being were mechanized and moves at the click of the mouse. What have we become? We have dehumanized ourselves, muted our sensitivity, suppressed compassion, giving full expression to base desires, self-centered engrossment where there is no thought or vision for the future.
Trapped within the four walls of our dwelling spaces, we forget to look out of the windows. Scenic views are only for the rich. The poor look across into neighbor’s flats, garbage filled alley ways or oxidation ponds. The sights and smells of the slums. No light penetrates the dark dank spaces between the tower blocks of low cost flats ( now called ‘apartments’). The word ‘flats’ is unfashionable and politically incorrect. It makes no difference to the reality.
Climate change and all these looming disasters make us realize, how real impermanence is. The rotting establishments of yesterday whose leaders still cling to by their finger tips, living in delusive security, struggling to keep afloat in the storm of questions. The masses must know, they crave knowledge of the secrets behind official closed doors. Anger prevails at decades and centuries of deception by power mongers taking control of our lives. The world, the planet, is in its birth pains. It is a painful birth; will a wholesome child be delivered or one deformed by prevailing destruction and turmoil?
Winking at Life 